The Moonlighter

Once again due to overwhelming demand places on the Founders Trail are being snapped up very quickly. We’ve received a load of requests for new tour dates and these will be published on Tuesday 19th June. Unfortunately we can’t publish new dates until the fixtures for next season are released as we of course need Ibrox to be free for the Stadium Tour part of our day. We can only apologize for the delay in publishing additional Tour dates and appreciate your understanding. Iain and Gordon.

Still plenty of time to enter and be in with a chance of winning this incredible item.Only £5 per entry.https://www.thefounderstrail.co.uk/the-restoration-of-rangers-graves

Last weekend our friends at the Toryglen RSC held their annual charity fundraising event from which they have donated the incredible amount of £500 to our Restoration of Rangers Graves Project. We'd like to thank the members of the Toryglen RSC for their overwhelming generosity as this will help to ensure that our Restoration work continues over the coming months. Thank you.

Tom Vallance and Davie Wilson. A wonderful image from Saturday’s unveiling at Ibrox.

This priceless gem has been donated to the Restoration Project by Robert Marshall of the Louden Tavern and we’d like to thank him for this overwhelming gesture. The limited edition Spirit of Ibrox book by Robert Mcelroy is signed by managers and players and are as follows: John Greig Walter Smith Alex McLeish Jock Shaw Eric Caldow Dave Smith Alex MacDonald Ian Ferguson Michael Mols Fernando Ricksen John Brown Gordon Smith Mark Hateley Andy Goram Richard Gough Arthur Numan Nacho Novo Mark Walters Nigel Spackman To be in with a chance of winning this extremely rare collectors item just donate £5 to the Restoration of Rangers Graves Project via the link below. All names will go into a hat and the winner will drawn on Monday 4th June. To donate and enter the draw please use the link here on our website https://www.thefounderstrail.co.uk/the-restoration-of-rangers-graves *Please note that there is a slight stain on the box cover of the book.

The restored Tom Vallance painting was unveiled last night at the top of the Marble Staircase at Ibrox Stadium. We’d like to thank artist Helen Runciman, Club 1872 and Rangers Football Club for their assistance with this project.

On the 27th May 1856 the Rangers great that was Tom Vallance was born. To quote his Rangers team-mates from the 1870’s ‘’ The whole of Rangers loved him like a brother’’ Tom was born at a small farmhouse known as Succoth near Renton in the parish of Cardross. When young he moved with his family to the Old Toll House at Shandon on the Gareloch. Tom came to Glasgow in the early 1870’s following the path taken by his friends whom he’d known since childhood the brothers McNeil and Campbell . Tom Vallance had an astonishing 60 year association with the Club, and his is an incredible CV. He was a master oarsman, a champion athlete (he set a Scottish long jump record of over 21 feet), he studied at the Glasgow School of Art, had paintings accepted by the Royal Scottish Academy and was Rangers Club Captain and President for many years. We have recorded details of Tom Vallance being present at the ceremony held on 1st January 1929 which saw the opening of the Main Stand at Ibrox and also at a dinner which was held in the St.Enoch’s Hotel after a Rangers match in 1933 when we faced Sporting Club of Vienna. He was also a guest of the Club at the New Year’s Day fixture that season against Celtic. So, the lad who was present at Fleshers Haugh in 1872 was still attending Ibrox some 60 years later where the Club that he’d helped form and nurture were now playing in front of crowds in excess of 100,000. Tom was a very successful business man. He had The Club restaurant at 22 Paisley Road West which today is the Viceroy Bar, The Metropolitan which stood on Hutchison Street in the Merchant City area of Glasgow and the Lansdowne which was at 183 Hope Street. Tom was having the Rangers results wired to his restaurants for the benefit of his patrons as early as 1890. When Rangers moved to First Ibrox in 1887 it was said that it was common for Club President Vallance to be working the turnstiles on matchday. At the opening of the Main Stand in 1929 Tom Vallance recalled the facilities being so cramped at the Rangers ground at Kinning Park that the players would have to wash in basins of cold water in the open air. It was the teenage Tom Vallance who helped lay the very foundations upon which our Club was built, hard-work, discipline, honesty, integrity and fair play . Mr. Struth said during that famous speech “No matter the days of anxiety that come our way, we shall emerge stronger because of the trials to be overcome. That has been the philosophy of the Rangers since the days of the Gallant Pioneers” Tom was paid the ultimate accolade by the Club in May 1898 when he was made a life member. As a lasting tribute to the incredible contribution he made to our Club we had Tom put on to canvas by way of a painting by artist Helen Runciman . Tom Vallance has now taken his rightful place at the top of the Marble Staircase alongside his friends and fellow Founders. Tom died on 16th February 1935 aged 78 at 189 Pitt Street Glasgow. He is buried in Hillfoot Cemetery in Bearsden and his funeral was attended by Mr. Struth, Chairman James Bowie and his old team-mate James McIntyre who both took a cord. Incredibly ,players from the Vale of Leven team whom Tom had faced 60 years earlier in 1877 were also in attendance. Tom was one of the originals, one of the greats. Today we celebrate the life of Tom Vallance.

Would all who are booked on tomorrow’sTour please note that there will be a Founders Trail welcome desk available within the Ibrox Megastore from 11.15am prior to our 12pm departure directly across from the Megastore This will give us an opportunity to greet you, check you from our loading chart and distribute our travel packs. Parking is available throughout the day around Ibrox Stadium. If you have any questions before the tour please don't hesitate in contacting us on 0790 2855536.

Just recently we added Founders Trail Ties to our range of merchandise and they are proving to be very popular. The ties are £12 (+£1.50 P+P) and can be purchased here on our website. https://www.thefounderstrail.co.uk/shop All merchandise orders placed are posted out within 24 hours.

Yesterday afternoon we had the pleasure of presenting the Founders Story to the Athole Masonic Lodge 384 and friends in Kirkintilloch. At the end of the presentation our Restoration of Graves donations bucket was sent around the hall and the wonderful amount of £ 85.20 was raised. We'd like to thank the organisers for a cracking event and everyone who attended for their overwhelming generosity as this will help to ensure that our Restoration work continues over the coming months. Thank you.

Last year we posted the incredible tale behind this wonderful painting by our own Tom Vallance from 1891 and how it had been found in a cupboard at Ibrox. https://www.thefounderstrail.co.uk/blog We met with the Club to discuss restoring the painting which would be funded by the Restoration of Rangers Graves Project and Club 1872. The Club agreed to let artist Helen Runciman, who has painted among many others our Founders and Tom Vallance portraits, carry out the restoration work. The work is now complete and this priceless gem will be unveiled at the top of the Marble Staircase at Ibrox Stadium this Saturday evening at 7.15pm. This will be before Champions League Final event which is sold out.

These seats have now been taken. Thank's everyone.

Two seats have just become available on our next Founders Trail and Ibrox Stadium Tour on Saturday 26th May. Adults £25 Child/Concession £18.If you'd like to join us send an email to thefounderstrail@gmail.com

Our full range of merchandise is available to purchase here on our website. https://www.thefounderstrail.co.uk/shop All items are posted out within 24 hours.

https://rangers.co.uk/news/club/disaster-memorial-restored/

Robert Mulholland didn’t return home from Ibrox on the 2nd January 1971. He was only 16 years old. It was fellow supporter Joe Burke who was so touched by Robert’s story that he had a memorial bench placed at Victoria Park in Whiteinch back in 2011. Over the last few years the bench has sadly suffered a lot of damage mainly due to the weather. Joe contacted us and asked to be put in touch with one of our team Chris Beglin who had previously carried out restoration work on the memorial bench to the Markinch Boys in Fife. Once again Chris took the bench to his workshop and the transformation is nothing short of incredible. Chris took no payment to cover his costs from the project for the restoration work carried out on both benches. This is a wonderful example of the Rangers family pulling together and we at the Restoration Project would like to sincerely thank Joe and Chris. Today we remember our brother Robert Mulholland.

We at the Founders Trail are aware that due to time constraint, distance and cost many supporters can't make the journey to Glasgow to join us on the Founders Trail so four years ago we launched the Founders Trail Roadshow which is an alternative format which lets us take our wonderful story out to you. The Founders Trail Roadshow tells the story of our Founders from the shores of the Gareloch, to their arrival in Glasgow, their journey to the front door of Ibrox Stadium and beyond. This is done by way of a slideshow presentation. We profile each of our Founders and the subsequent growth of our unique club.The presentation also provides an insight into the Restoration of Rangers Graves Project and of course the Founders Trail. We hope that by telling this story it will give everyone an understanding of the very foundations upon which those lads built our club. The Founders Trail Roadshow has visited places such as Broxburn, Blackpool, Harthill,Fraserburgh,Thringstone, Clough, Belfast and Newtownards and have bookings all around the country with supporters clubs and organisations over the coming months including Plymouth. The presentation lasts for approximately 90 mins, with a 20 minute interval we also encourage a Q&A session at the conclusion. The roadshow can be booked to coincide with other entertainment you may wish to provide for those attending. If you would like to discuss us bringing the Founders Trail Roadshow to your supporters club or organisation then please contact us for details by emailing us at thefounderstrail@gmail.com or by calling 07902 855536.

Over the last few years we've been searching the cemeteries of Glasgow and beyond for the final resting places of those men who played such a vital role in not only forming our Club but the subsequent years thereafter. Work has already been carried out on 31 plots, this has included the final resting place of every player from the 1877 Scottish Cup Final team. We’ve extended the project into assisting those bereaved by the 1961 and 1971 Ibrox Disasters. Thanks to the generosity of our fellow Rangers supporters funds are in place to allow us to continue our work over the coming months. These men from our early years gave us so much that we still enjoy today and it’s important that we give them back a bit of dignity and respect, no-one will be left to rest in an unmarked grave. If you’d like to donate to the Restoration Project please use the link here on our website. https://www.thefounderstrail.co.uk/the-restoration-of-rangers-graves Thank you.

Still a few seats left.Adults : £25Children (under 16) and Senior Citizens £18.Reserve your seat here https://www.thefounderstrail.co.uk/book-onlineFor further information please call 0790 2855536.

On the 7th May 1856 our Founder William McBeath was born in the village of Callander. Willie’s dad Peter owned a general store on Callander’s Main Street and the family home was above the store which is now The Waverley Hotel. William had an older sister, Jane, and an older brother, Peter. Another boy was born after William but he like so many other children of the time died in infancy. Tragically, his dad Peter McBeath passed in November, 1864. Shortly afterwards, his wife took William and his sister Jane to Glasgow to start a new life. By the time of the 1871 census, the McBeaths were living at 17 Cleveland Street, living in the same close were five members of the McNeil family, including brothers Peter and William. It was the following year at the beginning of 1872 the four boys had the idea to form a football team. William McBeath played in our first ever match v Callander and according to fellow Ranger William Dunlop ‘’ was awarded man of the match then spent a week in bed recovering due to his exertions’’! In 1874 At the age of 17 William was elected as Rangers first ever President. By 1878, he was a commercial traveler and had moved to the Crosshill area of Glasgow after marrying a Jeannie Harris. Within a year, the family had moved to Bristol in what was almost certainly the most settled and happiest period of William’s life. In 1884 at the Club’s ‘Annual Hop’ his friends and fellow Founders honoured William for the role he played in its conception and presented him with a gold badge. This was at an event held in the St.Andrews Hall which is at the rear of today’s Mitchell Library in Glasgow. Sadly, the remaining period of William McBeath’s life is clouded in mist. What happened to cause a breakdown in the happy family life of the McBeaths is uncertain. William’s son Norman was sent to Glasgow to live with his grandmother. Norman McBeath died in Glasgow, aged eighty-three, in 1973. William last few years make for unpleasant reading. He moved from town to town, found himself in court on charges of fraud (of which he was acquitted) and married for a second time. He moved to Lincoln and stayed at 57 Cranwell Street and 34 Vernon Street. http://i68.tinypic.com/s5xyx0.jpg[/IMG] Tragically the deterioration in William McBeath’s life continued until his death in a workhouse at Lincoln in 1917. He was certified ‘’imbecile”. The evidence of his state of health suggests he had actually suffered from Alzheimer’s. Medical terminology back then was brutal to say the least. William McBeath was buried in an unmarked, pauper’s grave in Lincoln Cemetery but there is a happy ending to his story. During his research for the book,the Gallant Pioneers book Gary Ralston found William’s final resting place. The grave is now marked with a fitting stone which was paid for by the worldwide Rangers support and placed there by a group of fellow supporters.

Four seats available for Sunday's Tour. Adults £25 Child/Concession £18. If you'd like to join us please call 0790 2855536

A limited number of seats have become available on this Sunday’s Founders Trail and Ibrox Stadium Tour. Adults £25 Child/Concession £18. If you'd like to join us please send an email to thefounderstrail@gmail.com

Last Friday night we had the pleasure of presenting the Founders Story in Alloa for the Wee County True Blues RSC. At the end of the evening our Restoration of Graves donations bucket was sent around the hall and £93.05 was raised. We'd like to thank the organisers for a cracking event and everyone who attended for their generosity as this will help to ensure that our Restoration work continues over the coming months. Thank you.